


damnant quod non intellegunt

by frostbloom



Series: ubi mores, ibi spes [2]
Category: HOTSHOT (Band), I.O.I (Band), JBJ (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Alternate Universe - Past Lives, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-03-06 04:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13403199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostbloom/pseuds/frostbloom
Summary: Outtakes from thedoloruniverse (Hunger Games AU).





	1. death clock

**Author's Note:**

> _damnant quod non intellegunt_ (they condemn what they do not understand)  
>  These are outtakes from my Hunger Games AU, [dolor](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11069703/chapters/24686283).  
> You're going to need to read that first... it's not that bad, I promise.
> 
>  
> 
> [fic playlist here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYbW26M8OAfGbpEVR4TjZyIKxY5M0NPwd)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ladies and gentlemen, let the 101st Hunger Games begin!"  
> Sixty drabbles, sixty words each, for the sixty seconds preceding the bloodbath.

60.

Jieqiong was born in the Capitol. Her family sent her to District 1 so that she could train at the Academy from a very young age. They had only wanted her to learn self-defense—they could have never anticipated that she would place second in the annual trainee ranking just two days before the first-place girl died in a freak accident.

59.

District 1’s pretty boy, his family’s pride and joy, the Academy’s darling, Haein’s most lethal student—Park Jihoon is famous, yet no one in the District can really tell what he is like. He’s friends with many, but truly close with few; one moment he might be smiling brightly and the next he might be holding a knife to your throat.

58.

Myungjun gets locked into the Nut on accident sometimes, but tonight he brings a bit of food and water and gets himself locked in for the night on purpose. He needs some time alone to mourn his sister before the Games even begin.

 _If only I had managed to convince Doyeon that the Games spare no one,_ he thinks bitterly.

57.

_Ring. Ring._

“Gunwoo, it’s Inha, where are you? It’s starting.

“...Yes, of course I remember what Ongie said that night, to tell him if we hear about a certain Daniel at the Nut, I—

“...District Four male? Nah, it has to be a coincidence, right? How could he have—

“...We can talk more about this later, get home now.”

_Click._

56.

Mina’s parents go to the square to watch the countdown.

Some people watch them curiously, almost critically, wondering why they are out in public and not mourning in solitude. But they know that watching their daughter die while in an empty, dark, silent house would be the worst of all, and so they seek support for their suffering in advance.

55.

Junhyuk and Moonkyu still work at HOTSHOT TV. Right now they’re transmitting the Games countdown to all of the districts.

Junhyuk tries not to look at Sungwoon’s empty seat, tries not to think about how his friend would have worked on the countdown’s audio right beside him, and yet the screen with Sungwoon’s determined face is all he can see.

54.

Jonghyun sits in the mentors’ control room. He feels like he should be thrumming with nervous energy, maybe fidgeting, but instead he sits perfectly still and silent as other mentors murmur around him.

He thinks about how he truly kissed Nayoung for the last time that morning, because even if she comes back, she’ll never be the same Nayoung again.

53.

Jisung is sprawled out in front of the television, staring at the blank screen, when Jinwoo and Hayi enter the house holding adoption forms. “You two look married,” he jokes, smiling at them.

For a rare moment Jisung looks and sounds like his old self. But then the television turns on to broadcast the countdown and his face crumples again.

52.

Hyeri’s friends take down the little golden lights with which she had decorated her ceiling, studded upon midnight blue. They were one of the few luxuries she had ever allowed herself—she always said they made her room look like the night sky.

Chaeeun prays it will be quick. Sihyeon tells the stars that Hyeri will be there soon. Both weep.

51.

Jaechan knows Jinyoung like the back of his own hand. They are best friends and neighbors; they attended school together, applied to work in the same power plant. At the goodbyes it takes three Peacekeepers to pry them apart.

With a heavy heart, knowing Jinyoung so well, Jaechan finally admits to himself that he will never see Jinyoung alive again.

50.

Seojung wonders if she should never have met Chungha. She’s not the type of person to let anyone in, so if she’d just remained that way for once, maybe she wouldn’t care about what’s going to happen.

_Would blissful ignorance be better?_

Instead she waits, terrified, before the television, for the countdown to be over, for the carnage to begin.

49.

“Euiwoong?”

He’s not in bed and that’s not Hyungseob’s voice—instead, Justin is peering anxiously at Euiwoong nestled in his tire cocoon.

Asleep on the job again at Yuehua Garage. “Zhengting says it’s okay, he understands,” Justin murmurs. “We’re working overtime tonight anyways, not watching. Go back to sleep.”

Euiwoong manages a smile and lies back down on his makeshift bed.

48.

“Nayoung, did you sleep?”

“No.”

“...You have to rest, Nayoung—”

“I’m fine, Mimi.”

“Nayoung, I know you’re worried about Sejeong, but you need to rest so that you can keep an eye on her later. The Games will start soon.”

“Hana—”

“Taewoo is trying his best. You know you can’t do anything now.”

“...I love her so much.”

“She knows.”

47.

The day after the Reaping, Woojin’s younger sister sits in her classroom after school and wonders why he hasn’t stopped by to pick her up and walk her home yet. Dad shows up later with the saddest look on his face.

She hasn’t even seen Woojin at home either. _Weird._ She misses him, and she hopes he’ll come back soon.

46.

Somi’s father stands in her room, looking sadly at her belongings that sit gathering dust. They are preparing to pack her things away for later burial, and yet he can’t bear to take anything just yet.

 _Maybe another day,_ he thinks, trying and failing to keep the pain from his face as he leaves Somi’s room and closes the door.

45.

Donghyun sits next to Youngmin in the mentors’ control room.

He’d thought that this would get easier with time. For the past two years he’s been sitting right here, watching his tributes die—but Daehwi is like a little brother to Donghyun and he knows that this year will hurt the most.

Youngmin takes his hand, and Donghyun doesn’t let go.

44.

Chaeyeon’s family knows this is a death sentence, and they grieve, but in the end they are helpless. There is nothing they can do except work and try to survive and convince themselves it’s just one less mouth to feed. It’s always like this in the lower districts: the only possible way the pain will lessen. But it never works.

43.

Dongha had never really gotten to know his neighbor. Jaehwan had a big ego and an even bigger laugh. And the other boy loved to sing—usually with his trusty guitar, rarely without it, always in the grain fields as the sun went down.

Dongha wants the now-silent fields to ring with song again. He resolves to continue what Jaehwan started.

42.

Suyeon sits before the television and waits for the countdown to start.

Normally she’d be holding Yoojung’s hand anxiously and hoping both District 10 tributes would survive, but now she can only grip her mother’s hand tightly and hope Yoojung makes it out safely. Some part of her knows it’s no use, but she tries her best to ignore it.

41.

Sunwoo thinks about the community home caretakers, about their angry hands and words and faces, about the malevolent darkness in Haknyeon’s eyes that only grew with every hit, about how innocently he smiled on his first day in the slaughterhouse even with blood dripping from his hands. He knows Haknyeon is pretending, both to be weak and to be sane.

40.

Yeonjung’s older brother has always watched her with a fond smile, whether she’s singing in the fields or excitedly telling him about school. She always beamed at him whenever he came to pick her up, especially when he brought still-warm bread with him. Now he can only fix his eyes on the television screen and dread what is to come.

39.

Minhyuk, Kihyun, and Gwanghyun gather at Kihyun’s place, just like they always have. Normally Sewoon would show up with his guitar and they’d all sing a little, but he’s not there anymore.

It feels so wrong.

When they see Sewoon rise into the arena, blinking slowly against the bright sunlight, Gwanghyun and Kihyun hold each other and start to cry.

38.

Sohye’s family knew it was over the moment her name was called. They locked their doors, pulled their shutters, and now they can only watch as her terrified face appears on their television screen. Their coal-dusted hands clutch at the worn couch cushions as though they are lifelines, and yet they know there will be no lifeline to save her.

37.

Kenta sits on his couch and fiddles with the sleeves of his overpriced shirt. The television’s on. He can’t bear to look at it yet. But he knows eventually he will, because every year he ends up watching, unable to look away, as the people he cares about most die. Three years, three people. This year it will be four.

36.

Jieqiong is scared. It’s not the type of fear that swoops and leaves her frozen in place—rather, it’s the type that settles into every pore of her body, permeating so thoroughly that she begins to doubt her ability to live through the Bloodbath, let alone to kill.

But she’s a Career. And Careers cannot afford to think that way.

Right?

35.

Jihoon’s coveted scimitar is perched atop the tail of the Cornucopia. Just seeing that weapon makes his heart race—partly from excitement, like a good Career, but also from fear.

He’s scared of these Games, he’s scared of dying, he’s scared of _losing._ He has fears. And that scares him, because fear is weakness, and he can’t show any of _that._

34.

Doyeon wishes she had taken her brother’s advice.

She’d been training for years, so caught up in the glory of the Hunger Games that she’d forgotten the grimmer possibilities. It wasn’t until she got here and met the other Careers that she realized how easily things could go wrong.

 _I trained and volunteered for my own death,_ she thinks ruefully.

33.

Seongwoo feels an eerie sense of calm overtake him.

First he has to get a weapon, preferably the sword that sits just inside the Cornucopia. Then he has to protect Daniel.

 _Shouldn’t be that hard, right? I’ve been through worse._ We’ve _been through worse._

He pushes away all thoughts of past universes in which he couldn’t even do that much.

32.

Mina knows what she has to do.

“Go around the bloodbath,” their mentor Yongbin had instructed her. “There’ll be supplies and smaller weapons scattered around the Cornucopia. Try to gather some of those. Run away from trouble.”

But she’s terrified. Many of these tributes are faster than her; almost all are stronger. There’s no way she’ll make it out alive.

31.

As soon as the glass tube surrounding him retracts, Sungwoon looks for Taehyun. His ally stands on the other side of the circle, expression tight; when he realizes Sungwoon is looking at him, he points towards the Cornucopia, then to the trees in the distance. Sungwoon nods in agreement.

_Get what we need from the bloodbath. Then execute the plan._

30.

Nayoung’s training kicks in immediately. She locates her spears, propped against the inside of the Cornucopia, and gets ready to run.

 _No distractions,_ she’d been taught. But for just a moment, she allows herself to think of Jonghyun’s smile, his hand in hers, his bandaged wrists and his beautiful haunted eyes.

_It’s always good to remember who you’re fighting for._

29.

Daniel’s first instinct is to look for Seongwoo. The other boy stands a few spots to his right, body tense, a faraway look in his eyes.

 _I love you,_ Daniel thinks suddenly, desperately.

He tries to convince himself that it doesn’t really matter if he lives to tell Seongwoo that, because he’s probably heard it throughout too many lifetimes already.

28.

Hyeri considers just stepping off of her tribute plate. It’s certainly tempting—a painless and quick death—but then she puts her hand into her jacket pocket and her fingers fumble with the little metal star Chaeeun had given her. Her token.

No, she can’t blow up this last piece of home. Hyeri will be brave. She will face her death head-on.

27.

Jinyoung sees a medium-sized orange backpack sitting on the left edge of the silver horn, directly in front of his plate.

Can he get there before anyone else does? Maybe. Is this going to result in his death? Probably.

Well, he can’t let that stop him. No supplies, especially in this environment, would mean automatic death. He’s going for it.

26.

Chungha sees him as though she is looking through a tunnel from a great distance. He is all she can see, as beautiful as always, but he seems so far away now, untouchable. Like they are nothing, _were_ nothing but strangers.

Her lips unconsciously form his name, her heart twists, but he doesn’t look at her. Not once.

It hurts.

25.

 _Where’s Woojin?_ Hyungseob thinks, then pushes the thought away. He can find his ally later, after the bloodbath is over. Because they’ll both survive, and then they can combine forces to help each other, sharing supplies and weapons and such-

He tries to ignore the niggling feeling of doubt, of fear, of panic, gnawing at the corners of his mind.

24.

Sejeong pushes back her fear and keeps her face blank.

She’s watched enough past Games film to know that visible panic leads to being targeted. As the sister of Kim Taewoo, victor of the 92nd Games, Sejeong knew that the Capitol would send her to the Games, so she’s been preparing for years.

But nothing could prepare her for this.

23.

Woojin tries to find his ally.

He looks around frantically for the District 6 boy, but Hyungseob is nowhere in sight. He must be on the other side of the silver horn, then, but Woojin just can’t see Hyungseob, and he’s not going to move his feet, for fear of falling off his plate and exploding. Panic rises within him—

22.

Somi waits for the gong. There’s a small backpack nearby that she can scoop up, then she and Daehwi can—

 _“Run,”_ Daehwi had told her in training, face serious. _“That’s all we can do. We can outrun the Careers, they’re stronger but heavier and we’re quick.”_

 _“But when they catch us?”_ she asked. He didn’t have an answer to that.

21.

Daehwi looks for Somi. _Where is she? Where is she? Where-_

 _There!_ She’s standing on the other side of the tribute circle, not looking at him. She’s got her eye on a backpack.

His stomach twists. If she gets into trouble going for supplies, can he afford to stay and wait for her?

He doesn’t want to know the answer.

20.

Chaeyeon doesn’t want to die.

She’s going to, of course. She was as good as dead the moment she was reaped. The District knew it, her friends knew it, her family knew it—Chaeyeon herself knew it, _knows it,_ and yet even now, as she stands on the plate, her wish isn’t for a quick death. It’s to live her life.

19.

Jaehwan is terrified.

This isn’t like him, this doubt and fear. Back in District 9, he knew exactly what he could do with his voice, and he did it confidently, because Jaehwan knew what he could be. A star.

Now he’s scared, he’s more scared than he’s ever been, but one thing hasn’t changed: he knows what he’ll be.

Dead.

18.

Yoojung looks to the Cornucopia, gleaming so brightly in the sunlight. Dazzling. Tempting.

It’s so dangerous. There are so many tributes who could and _would_ end her life in a few seconds. What will she do? Supplies are definitely necessary, but if she just runs she’ll escape unharmed.

Fear turns Yoojung’s feet away from the Cornucopia. She isn’t going in.

17.

Haknyeon is ready for these Games to begin. Ready for the bloodbath to start.

The weapon he needs is right there, coiled neatly at the mouth of the Cornucopia, almost taunting him with its proximity. Right next to it he sees a large knife, and he can’t suppress his triumphant smile.

 _They’ll never see it coming,_ he thinks, smile widening.

16.

Yeonjung has been scared before—squished into a cramped hut with twelve other rebel girls as they waited in dread for the Capitol to find them, condemn them, to drag them away and make them all Avoxes. She feels like that now: trapped, terrified, awaiting death.

All she can do is hope that the Careers have more interesting tributes to target.

15.

Sewoon finds Jaehwan standing to his right. His ally’s expression is tight, his posture tense.

He thinks back to their last conversation on the rooftop, the despair in Jaehwan’s voice audible even over the dull celebratory thrum of the colorful city below, his hopelessness palpable.

All they wanted was to be something, but soon they will be nothing at all.

14.

Sohye is so scared. The seconds are counting down quickly. Mina is across the circle looking about as terrified as she feels and the Careers look so strong, the sun is too bright, and—what is she going to do? Is she going to get anything from the Cornucopia? Can she even afford to try?

_Can I at least die quickly—_

13.

He catches Sungwoon’s eye from across the tribute circle and gestures towards the Cornucopia, then towards the distant forest. The other boy nods calmly.

Piece by piece, Taehyun has lost everything. He has barely anything, _anyone_ left to live for. But the boy from District 3 has a whole life ahead of him, so Taehyun will do whatever it takes.

12.

District 1’s citizens seem to live in endless luxury. But in a tiny hut at the corner of the main city, rebellion is brewing, has been brewing for many years—unnoticed by the Peacekeepers because their noses are buried in expensive perfumes, their eyes are fixed upon glittering gemstones, their fingers let money slip through like water.

They will all burn.

11.

The Nut in District 2 remains the Capitol’s center of military command, the place where their weapons are manufactured, the place from which their police force originates. Peacekeepers are stationed everywhere, trains in and out are closely monitored, and workers are thoroughly screened before they are hired because the Capitol does not like leaks.

But the Nut is not watertight.

10.

The HOTSHOT TV station broadcasts to the entirety of Panem from District 3. Since it is the Capitol’s primary way of communicating to many, especially during the Games, jobs there are coveted and pay well in exchange for lack of freedom. Of course. President Ahn wants everything under control.

The Capitol does not think about the possibility of being outsmarted.

9.

Many boats leave District 4 on various expeditions—fishing trips, shipment deliveries, trade routes—and on especially stormy nights, a few never come back. The Capitol easily dismisses lost ships because new ones can quickly be built, and besides, District 4 has quite a sizable reserve fleet docked for them.

Little does the Capitol know the true destination of these “lost” ships.

8.

In a District 5 power plant, the one with (not so coincidentally) the worst working conditions, a boy kneels at the central control panel and, glancing nervously about, begins to redirect power from the main power grid. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough.

Stealing is punishable by a very public death. At least the cameras are off after midnight.

7.

District 6’s mechanic shops are always busy, but tonight one is even busier than usual. The owner knows by experience that the first Games night means Capitol ignorance—enough for the two younger employees to put finishing touches on an armored vehicle and have the third employee drive it down to District 9. (Good thing no one remembers he exists.)

6.

District 7’s most efficient lumber workers are the six boys living on the edge of town. They’re pretty friendly (except one), and yet they somehow remain enigmatic, no matter who talks to them.

They do their work well enough, so the Peacekeepers leave them alone; the Capitol once watched them, but there were simply more interesting, more suspicious targets.

_Perfect._

5.

Before sunrise, a messenger knocks on the back door of a house in the District 8 Victor’s Village.

Maybe if the Capitol paid closer attention to the activities of their favorite, _most obedient_ victor, they would notice how quickly he reads the letters before burning them in his fireplace, but they’re not watching.

It will come back to haunt them.

4.

Deep within District 9’s tallest grain fields, a girl crawls through the dirt. The guard towers atop the tall fence are empty, their fires temporarily extinguished.

_Never hurts to be extra careful._

She finds the trapdoor at the center of the field, looks around one last time, and is gone.

None of the Peacekeepers notice her absence. The rebels rejoice.

3.

Work at the slaughterhouse is filthy, and the pay is bad. District 10’s citizens used to be openly angry over their misfortunes, but now their rage simmers below the surface, building like a great, bloody tide that cannot be cleaned from the Capitol’s hands at the end of the workday.

Because the Capitol’s end is coming. The District knows it.

2.

At the corner of the tallest grove of orange trees, a small hut stands cloaked in shadow, forgotten by the District 11 Peacekeepers, ignored by most citizens.

The only people who seem to remember and use the hut are the twelve girls who work in that orchard, and even then, they only operate secretively, with caution, under cover of darkness.

1.

There’s never a quiet day in the Hob, but since the District 12 Reaping, business has only crawled along. The most popular table is only staffed by a tall, weary-looking boy, shabbily dressed. Sometimes a smaller boy wearing fancier clothing pops in to deliver boxes or whisper urgently into his ear.

Today they get an unexpected visitor: young, tall, well-dressed.

0.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a really cool piece to work on. The 60-second countdown (where tributes who move before the time is up get blown to pieces by land mines) gave me an idea: what if I wrote sixty different 60-word drabbles?  
> One for every tribute in the Games? That only gave me 24 drabbles, so I gave each tribute's family and/or friends an excerpt as well. 48 out of 60 drabbles were planned out now. I used the remaining twelve for the twelve districts.  
> (If any of these are more than 60 words, it's because Google Docs counts words connected by em dash as one word.)  
> I hope you enjoyed this!


	2. demise (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The perspectives of certain tributes in the moments leading up to their deaths.
> 
> In this chapter: Hwang Minhyun, Bae Jinyoung, and Joo Haknyeon.

The water is pulling at his ankles as he scrambles to climb. His hands slip on the branch, wet as it is from the rain and the spray of the rising water; grunting, he hauls himself up. For a moment he thinks he might let go and fall—and then Jonghyun is there, one branch above him, steadying him.

Of course. Jonghyun would never let him fall.

There’s no time to rest. Jonghyun continues to move upwards, shouting down at him to _hurry, hurry, please hurry_ but Minhyun’s arms ache and he’s reopened the cuts on his left leg. Jonghyun is another branch up now but Minhyun can’t bring himself to move. He’s taking time to rest. If he doesn’t he might just fall from this branch.

The water is level now. The Gamemakers don’t seem to be bringing it any higher up than the branch he’s on. Why is Jonghyun still shouting? The water isn’t even up to his branch and the rain seems to have stopped—

Minhyun looks behind him and sees a wave rolling directly towards their tree.

Suddenly he’s scrambling again, panicked, wrapping his hands around the branch he’s on just as the wave hits and he’s entirely at the mercy of the water, body sucked down into it, holding on desperately. Somehow he’s still clinging to the branch when the wave peters out and the water begins to recede but he can’t bring himself back up onto the branch and the one above it is too high to act as a handhold and he cries out because _he’s going to die, he’s going to—_

Jonghyun grabs one of his hands. The other boy, having tied himself tightly to the tree trunk with rope, has apparently come back down just to get him. Minhyun gasps for breath and lets Jonghyun grab his other hand. Jonghyun would never let him fall. One solid pull and he’ll be up to safety again. _It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s—_

It strikes him then that Jonghyun isn’t helping him up. He’s holding onto Minhyun’s hands but _he isn’t moving._

Minhyun looks down. The water has receded quickly, and now it’s a long way down. He is dangling in midair with nothing to hold him up except for—

“Jonghyun,” he says weakly, looking back up. The District 4 boy looks deep in thought, almost peaceful, even as the rope wrapping him to the tree stretches slightly, even as his arms strain to keep Minhyun alive.

Suddenly Minhyun knows what’s about to happen. But there’s no panic now. He looks up into Jonghyun’s eyes and finds them trained on him already- still those same kind eyes, with the same quiet strength. The only difference is that this Jonghyun would let him fall.

He doesn’t look away. Neither of them do. Not as Jonghyun’s hands loosen, not as Minhyun smiles up at him for the last time, not as one of them clings to the tree trunk while the other falls to his death.

* * *

The countdown hits zero, the gong sounds, and all Jinyoung knows is that _he’s going to die._

At some point during the countdown he had seen a medium-sized orange backpack sitting on the left edge of the silver horn, directly in front of his plate. He had made up his mind to go for it, but then when he actually was running and was halfway there, his feet seemed to fail him, terror slowing his steps, panic bogging down his every move. Somehow he gets to the backpack, reaches to sling it over his shoulder, and then suddenly he turns to his left and there is Jihoon, eyes hard, gleaming scimitar in his right hand.

It’s such a strange feeling, being terrified of someone that he had so easily laughed with just days before. The Jihoon that played with flowers and smiled at him, the Jihoon that acted cute and got embarrassed immediately, the Jihoon that he had come to know and love… all of that is gone now, replaced in an instant by the metal blade poised to end Jinyoung’s life.

And when he sees the look on Jihoon’s face, he knows there is nothing he can possibly say to save his own life, but _damn it,_ he tries so hard anyways, even as Jihoon’s arm moves and there’s a blur of silver. “Jihoonie,” he croaks, but already the blade is buried in his chest, and he chokes on his own blood, on the rest of his sentence, on the rest of his plea for mercy.

No mercy. Not from the Career prodigy, even if he blushed when Jinyoung called him cute.

But is Jinyoung just imagining things, or is that regret in Jihoon’s eyes? Maybe Jihoon will win these Games and wake up tormented for years, screaming for forgiveness. Maybe Jinyoung won’t be remembered by anyone except the one who killed him. He won’t be alive to see it, but for now, woozy, blood spewing from his mouth, Jinyoung thinks that’s alright, smiles up at the darkening sky, and closes his eyes.

* * *

 

The countdown is at thirty seconds, and all Haknyeon knows is that _he needs that whip_.

It’s right there, coiled neatly at the mouth of the Cornucopia, almost taunting him with its proximity. Right next to it he sees a large knife, and he can’t suppress his triumphant smile.

 _They’ll never see it coming,_ he thinks.

Twenty seconds.

Haknyeon tenses and gets ready to run towards the silver horn; nearby he can see Yoojung turn away from the spoils. If he cared about her life at all he’d try to get her attention, try to get her to take something from the Cornucopia before she goes.

_It’s really a shame that I don’t give a shit about her. Weak._

Ten seconds.

His eyes meet Jihoon’s, just for a fleeting moment, and Haknyeon notes the fear there, the uncertainty, and then the other boy’s eyes harden and flicker away.

 _Weak,_ his mind whispers, and he pushes the thought back.

The gong rings, and Haknyeon runs, not for his own life, but so that he might be able to take another’s. He gets to the Cornucopia first—a quick glance around shows that only a few Careers are anywhere near him—and seizes the whip with one hand, grabs the knife with the other. Jihoon reaches the spoils next and gets a hold of his scimitar quickly enough, but he’s on the other side of the Cornucopia killing someone, judging by the blood that splatters the silver like raindrops.

The first kill of the 101st Hunger Games, and Haknyeon can’t even see who’s dead. He watches for a moment in morbid, almost jealous fascination before coming back to himself.

_Yes. I have to make a kill._

He moves away from the Cornucopia, eyes searching for a target. There’s a little group of terrified female tributes that are running in all directions from the Cornucopia’s tail; one of them is seemingly frozen in place, eyes wide. Perhaps it’s indecision, perhaps it’s fear, but either way something is paralyzing her and _she’s going to die. Right now. That’s all that matters._

He gets his first chance to truly admire the whip he’s holding when he lashes it and wraps it around her throat. The motion is incredibly smooth, the curve unbelievably perfect, the spikes on the whip quite the aesthetic touch. Haknyeon has drawn blood in a majestic arc across her neck and soon her eyes are popping, her mouth is open, her throat is making gurgling noises, when he grows inexplicably bored and sinks the knife into her chest.

 _Weak,_ his mind whispers again, and he almost laughs out loud.

Even with how quickly he’s grown bored of this kill, Haknyeon can feel the energy thrumming through his body as he unwinds the whip from her delicate neck, pulls the knife roughly from her chest. This is how he felt the first time he killed an animal in the slaughterhouse, because to Haknyeon it felt like he wasn’t the rejected weakling, the runt anymore. There were weaker beings than him, and of course he was going to take full advantage of that.

_So why not take down a bigger target?_

His earlier triumph fills his heart with courage and that courage fills his mind with foolish thoughts and District 4’s Kang Daniel is right in front of him, machete gripped tightly in one hand, eyes wide and far away. If Daniel lunged and swiped his weapon, he could bring Daehwi down with one hit. But he’s hesitating.

_If I lunge and swipe my weapon, I could—_

Haknyeon isn’t hesitating. His whip lashes and coils around Daniel’s neck and the larger boy tumbles to the ground with a choked cry, taken by surprise, blade slicing at nothing, struggling to escape Haknyeon’s hold. A bigger target, soon to be reduced to a bloody mess on the ground- Haknyeon almost laughs at the justice of it all.

 _Weak,_ his mind whispers once more, and he has to agree.

He could kill the boy on the end of his whip right now, end his life with a single stab, but he lets his target squirm. A broad-shouldered, Capitol-favored Career, entirely at the weakest tribute’s mercy.

_I live for this. I literally do._

Haknyeon tightens the whip another half coil, tries not to gloat, fails, and it’s then that he looks up and meets Jihoon’s eyes once again. For a moment fear rises within him, because _isn’t he killing Jihoon’s ally?_ But another second passes and Jihoon stabs a girl cruelly with his scimitar as she tries to escape, and then he just watches Haknyeon. He doesn’t warn the other Careers, he doesn’t try to confront Haknyeon, he just watches and waits and gives no warning. Haknyeon’s lips unconsciously curl into that grim, triumphant smile.

He should not be surprised, then, when another second later there is no warning from one of the only friends he has ever made, when the pain jolts through his entire body and his grip on his weapons loosens and huge dark spots dance across his vision and a sword is sticking through his chest and he’s falling backwards onto the ground. No warning at all, and no surprise either, as the last thing he sees is Seongwoo of District 2, so much stronger than Haknyeon, standing above him with blood dripping off of his sword.

 _Weak,_ his mind whispers a final time, and he can’t even protest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will likely be more of these as the Games continue. 
> 
> Comments and/or kudos are appreciated!


End file.
